Greedy Trial Lawyer
Now They Are Slanting Our Beverage Studies
Category: The Latest Baddest
The funding source of research is likely to impact the final conclusions. No big surprise to me. This rather obvious situation has been found to exist even in beverage studies. Sound the alarm!!
Where can someone go to get the truth about Bud Light?
On Nutritious Drink Studies, Consider the Funding Source
Before you take to heart any research about the health effects of beverages such as milk, fruit juice or soft drinks [and light beer?], find out who paid for the study.If a beverage manufacturer or industry group funded the research, the finding may be biased, researchers report.
"When a food company sponsors a study, it is much more likely to be positive" about the health effects of the product, said Dr. David Ludwig. He's the study's senior author and director of the Optimal Weight for Life program at Children's Hospital Boston, the pediatric teaching hospital for Harvard Medical School.
Ludwig and his colleagues analyzed 206 articles from medical journals that evaluated the health benefits or effects of soft drinks, juice and milk [and light beer?]. The studies were published from 1999 to 2003.
Of the 206 studies, 111 supplied information on funding. To prevent bias in Ludwig's review, one researcher selected the articles for inclusion in the study. Another two researchers who were not told the funding sources classified each study as favorable, not favorable or neutral toward the beverage studied. A fourth researcher who didn't know the conclusions of the study determined the funding source and classified the studies, based on whether they would be beneficial, negative or neutral to the funder's bottom line.
In all, 22 percent of the studies were funded totally by industry, while 32 percent had both industry and independent funding.
"We found when a food company pays for a study, the results are about eight times more likely to be favorable to the company's financial interest than when the studies are funded independently," Ludwig said. "It is a strong association. It raises concern for bias."
The same association has been found in studies of medications funded by drug companies, Ludwig said. But, he added, bias in studies of beverages could have a greater impact because nearly everyone drinks milk, juices or soft drinks.
I am not sure about Ludwig's last conclusion. Somehow slanted drug studies still strikes me as more likely to cause serious harm. But, maybe I do not appreciate what the slanted beverage studies are hiding.
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